Karaoke Challenge
by PurtFiend
Summary: Kurt and Dave meet up in New York in a Karaoke Bar. Dave is sweet but insecure so Kurt challenges him to sing a song to break him out of his shell. Just a cute romantic one shot. Nothing at all smutty


_Don't own nothin' - Just hoping you'll enjoy this short story and send me a review..._

**Karaoke Challenge**

"Why didn't you bring Adam along for a double date Kurt?" Brody asked as they entered their favourite restaurant/karaoke bar.

"I'm not sure where Adam and I are going yet." Kurt sighed. "At the beginning I thought something was there and then it kind of fizzled out."

"Maybe you should reconsider Blaine, you certainly got along well with him last time we were in Lima." Rachael suggested.

"Maybe I need to be on my own for a bit," Kurt sighed. Though he did have fun with Blaine, that boat had sailed a long time ago. He wanted something more substantial something more like… Dave. Kurt impatiently shook his head, talk about ships that sailed, Dave was so last year! He wasn't even a starter! So why did he still think of him at the weirdest times?

As the hostess came towards them to show them a table, Kurt stopped mid walk. He turned and told his friends. "I shouldn't even be here with you guys, playing third wheel."

"No Kurt! You have to stay!" Rachael pleaded and grabbed his arm. "Even if you are not looking for someone, you should stay active and go out. All you do is attend classes and then go straight home."

"Fine. I'll stay a little while, but I'm going home early." He declared as they sat at their table.

They ordered their drinks and dinner and talked about school and though Kurt smiled at Brody's jokes and listened to Rachael go on about her classes, he wished he could just go home and take a long soak in his tub.

As he was playing with his food trying to hide his lack of appetite, he suddenly heard a voice from the past as a group walked by his table.

"Man! A karaoke bar? No way I'm singing!" Kurt whirled around to see who the familiar voice was.

"David?!" In all the gin joints in all the world… Kurt thought to himself.

"Fancy – I mean Kurt! Wow! What a surprise!" Dave seemed happy to see him and a little anxious as well.

"A nice I surprise I hope." Kurt replied and returned Dave's smile.

"Of course it is. It's been a long time. Let me introduce my friends. This is Tyrone, Jodie and Suzie." Dave pointed out his friends, a boy and two girls.

"Are you on a double date?" Kurt asked not sure if the double date was boy-girl and boy-girl, or boy-boy, and girl-girl.

Dave laughed, "Naw. We just go to school together and hang out as friends." His friends were all smiling and looking at the three of them quizzically.

Kurt realised he had better introduce his party. "Where are my manners? Dave you remember Rachael Berry of course, and this is her boyfriend Brody."

"How do you know each other?" The blonde girl asked, and Kurt remembered Dave calling her Jodie.

"Dave, Rachael and I attended McKinley High school together." Kurt replied cautiously, really not wishing to reopen old wounds.

"Are you ex-boyfriends?" the other girl Suzie asked and inadvertently answered Kurt's immediate unasked question about Dave's in or out status.

Dave blushed red and jumped in, "No! No! We were never boyfriends! I wasn't out for most of high school."

"Good friends then!" Suzie decided for herself.

"Oh no!" Rachael started, David was a –"

"Football player and we were in Glee. You remember how hard it is to mix with the different cliques in high school." Kurt said jumping in and placing a warning hand on Rachael's arm. He was afraid that she would mention what a bully Dave was in front of his friends.

"What a shame! You guys look like you'd make a great couple." Suzie carried on, quite oblivious to Dave's embarrassment.

He flushed red and started to herd his friends away. "We should get a table and leave Kurt, Rachael and Brody to enjoy their dinner in peace." He turned back to Kurt, "um, maybe later we can catch up?" He looked so hopeful Kurt had to smile.

"Sure, maybe later, after your meal."

Over the course of dinner Kurt would sneak a peek over to where the other group was sitting and nearly every time he looked, he caught David staring longingly after him. Dave would smile and then quickly go back to his dinner. Kurt was inwardly pleased, obviously the boy still had feelings for him.

Kurt couldn't help but notice how good Dave was looking, more boyish than Kurt remembered. He gazed at Dave, smiling and laughing with his friends, glowing with good health. Kurt continued to watch him and smiled happily, silently thanking the universe for David still being alive. If his father hadn't had found Dave in the nick of time… Kurt squeezed his eyes shut and forced himself to stop thinking morbid thoughts.

He looked over once more and found Dave staring right at him. Dave sort of glanced over towards the bar and then back to him, making a clear invitation to meet up away from their friends. Kurt nodded and then turned back to his friends. He was pretty sure Rachael might question his meeting with Dave and might even want to join them, so he knew he would have ditch her first.

"Rachael," Kurt stated as he grabbed the song binder on the table and pushed it towards his friend. "Don't keep your audience waiting, pick a song!"

"I was hoping you and I would sing together." Rachael responded as she started leafing through the songs.

"Maybe later, I just love listening to you and Brody singing, you're such a cute couple."

"Okay!" Rachael enthused and the couple quickly chose a song and ran up to the Kareoke host with their song choice.

As soon as they were up singing, Kurt moved to the bar where Dave was waiting.

"Hey Kurt," said Dave already nursing a beer. "I thought maybe you weren't going to join me."

"I had to make sure Rachael was occupied first," Kurt responded, smiling at Dave. The former high school jock really did look good.

"First off I want to thank you for not outing me as a bully in front of my friends. Tyrone knows what I was like before, but the girls don't know. I will tell them, I want to tell them, just not yet."

Kurt shrugged, "Dave, that was long ago and I have forgiven you so why would I bring it up?'

"You did more than not bring it up. You stopped Rachael from talking about it. I just want you to know how much I appreciate how you try to protect me. You always did your best to help me."

"I want you to be happy Dave." Kurt answered sincerely. "I am so proud of you! You are obviously out to your friends and you look comfortable in your own skin."

Dave smiled, "I am comfortable and though I might not be shouting 'I'm gay' from the rooftops, I never deny it either."

"How are your parents? The last time we talked your mother…" Kurt trailed off unsure how approach the fact Dave's mother wanted to "cure" him.

Dave smiled happily and jumped in with his story, "She's cool with it now. At first she had a real difficulty with my orientation but my dad dragged her to every PFlag meeting going. She hated them and didn't want to go, but gradually, maybe watching other parents struggle with their children's sexuality, she started to understand. Now she's one of my most ardent supporters and the President of the Lima Chapter of PFlag."

"That is awesome! I am so glad! You said you are a student? What school do you go to? Are you following your dream to become a sports agent?" Kurt shot off the questions rapid-fire, eager to know everything about Dave's life.

"I attend NYU. I started out taking business courses to be a sports agent, but I hated it. My roommate is Tyrone, we were assigned a room together in residence, but we get along great and do most things together – ah he's straight by the way. We're just good friends – I'm still single." He added meaningfully. "Anyways, we started helping each other study for our different courses. He's taking Physical Therapy and I found his assignments so much more fascinating than mine. After the first semester I dropped out of the business courses and started taking biology, anatomy and physiology. I am a bit behind my friends but I absolutely love the courses. I'm doing really well."

"That's amazing Dave! I'm assuming you'll want to become a sports therapist?"

"No actually, you probably won't believe this but I want to help rehabilitate kids who've been in tragic accidents. I actually volunteer at a nearby hospital and the kids there are absolutely amazing. They may be terribly injured, but their spirit is truly inspiring."

"You're truly inspiring!" Kurt blurted out.

"Me?" Dave flushed red with both pleasure and embarrassment.

"I'm following a very selfish dream to become famous while your dream is to help others. It's really very commendable."

"Uh thanks." Dave stared at his drink then turned back to Kurt. "Um Kurt?"

"Yes?"

Dave opened his mouth to say something, and then clamped it shut. He sighed and drained the last of his beer and moved off the bar stool. "I'd better go back to my friends Kurt. Nice catching up – see you around sometime." Dave then tore off back to his friends before Kurt could even respond.

Kurt was surprised by the abrupt exit and felt kind of hurt. He thought that they would at least exchange phone numbers. They had been through a lot together, learned a lot about themselves and Dave had even confessed his love. The way Dave was looking at him all evening, Kurt was sure that he still had strong feelings for him. Surely that meant more than a quick catch up and a 'see you around sometime'.

He looked over towards Dave's table as the jock sat down, Kurt couldn't hear their conversation but it was easy to interpret what was being said. As soon as he sat down all his friends leaned forward asked him how the conversation went. Kurt could see Dave answering with a few words and he could pretty much read Jodie's lips "did you get his number?" Dave just sagged and slowly shook his head. His friends looked incredulous and Suzie mouthed "why the hell not?" It was then Kurt suddenly realised that Dave was too shy ask. Well that was a problem easily solved and Kurt got up off his bar stool and walked over to Dave's table. If the mountain won't come to Mohammed then Mohammed would go to the mountain. As he neared their table Kurt the friends were huddled in a serious conversation and did not see him approach.

"Come on Dave, where's your balls! Go back over there and ask him for his number!" Tyrone urged.

"Tyrone's right Dave," Jodie added, "What's the worst he can do? Say no, or come up with some lame excuse. Big Deal! At least you can say you tried."

"Saying no is not the worst he can do." Dave said sadly. "What would be worse is that he gives me his number out of pity and then ignores me, and leaves my messages unreturned. That's the worst thing he can do." Dave sighed, "It's happened before. I'd rather not have to got through it again."

"He did that to you?!" Suzie huffed, her dark eyes blazing, "If that's the case you're better off without him. What a jerk!"

"He's not a jerk. We just had some issues during high school that I'd rather not talk about right now. He's really a special guy who's amazingly talented. I'm just too ordinary for him."

"Who's too ordinary for me?" Kurt asked as he pulled up a chair and sat next to Dave. The larger boy snapped his head around to look at Kurt. He looked embarrassed to be overheard but it didn't stop him from anwering Kurt.

"I am," Dave stated emphatically, "You know I'm extraordinarily ordinary. You said so yourself."

Kurt waved his hand at the comment as if he were batting away an annoying fly. "You are not ordinary. I want to be friends with you. That's why I followed you over here so I can get your number, because I want to see you now we both live in New York. It certainly isn't out of pity!"

"I know you mean well Kurt. I am sure you believe that you want to be my friend. But the moment you walk out of this bar, it's out of sight, out of mind. You won't call me, and if I call you I'll be a long time waiting. I'm sure I am way down on your list of priorities. You won't phone me back because you'll have better things to do." Dave explained sadly.

Kurt felt awful. There was no denying that in the past he did treat Dave this way. But how could he show the former jock that this time was different? "Look Dave, like you've said yourself, we've had issues and we've treated each other badly at times. But we're older now and we've grown and matured a lot since then. I think we could be good friends if we put some effort into it."

"If it's all the same to you, I'd rather just leave it rather than try and fail, only to be hurt," Dave answered sulkily.

"What if I prove that I'm worth it. Better yet, what if I prove to you that you're worth it." Kurt stated, a plan starting to form in his mind. "We're in a Karaoke Bar – I think a song would show you I mean."

"What, are you going to sing to me to prove how earnest you are?" asked David in a rather incredulous manner.

"No!" Kurt denied hotly, quickly changing his strategy because that was precisely what he was going to do. He suddenly had a brainwave. "You are going to be the one singing a song, because I want you to finally see how extraordinarily remarkable you are."

Dave laughed at that one. "No way am I singing!"

"How about I sweeten the deal? If you sing to me, not only will I give you my number but I'll go on a date with you."

Dave's head snapped up and he gave Kurt his full attention. "Are you serious? You will go on a date with me?"

"Yes. We'll spend the whole day together. But only if you get up on that stage and sing to me." Kurt responded.

"Oh! This is so exciting!" squealed one the girls at the table. "How romantic!" gushed the other. Kurt smiled at them. He already knew he liked Dave's friends and he hoped to see more of them.

"What's going on?" Rachael butted in, suddenly appearing at the table with Brody in tow.

"Dave's going to sing to Kurt! It's going to be wonderful! Dave has a really nice voice!" shouted the girls.

Dave flushed, "I'm not a professional like these guys."

"Rachael, don't hog the binder, give it here." Kurt ordered and held out his hand. Rachael reluctantly complied as Brody grabbed the chairs from their table and added them to Dave's friends' table.

"Um, what should we pick girls?" Suzie and Jodie quickly hovered over Kurt's shoulder and stared at the book. Kurt looked over at Dave, "well Dave, what kinds of music do you like to sing?"

"I don't know, I guess classic rock, pop, R&B. I know quite a few rap songs…" he paused thinking. "Anything but country, I really hate country."

Kurt looked at Dave and slowly smiled an evil smile. "Country it is then." He responded and quickly went to that section of the binder.

Dave smacked his head with his hand. "Aw com'on man, don't do this to me!" The girls just giggled and started pointing out country songs to Kurt.

"I don't think so Susie," Kurt said to one of Susie's choices. "We need a real hurtin' song, because Dave has hurt my feelings not wanting my number."

"I do want your number! I'll give it to you this second!" Dave said reaching for his phone.

"Too late Dave! You'll have to work for it now. A song for my number and a date." Kurt answered as he continued to peruse the song selections. "Ah, I think I've found a winner, girls." Kurt showed the girls carefully making sure Dave didn't see it.

"Oh my! gasped Suzie.

"Okay, I'm impressed. If you can get him to sing that, you're some kind of dating god." Jodie declared.

"Let me see!" Rachael demanded and the binder was passed to her. "I wouldn't be caught dead singing that!" she declared, "and you know me, I'll sing anything."

Brody glanced at the binder, gave a low whistle, and shook his head. "I hope I never piss you off Kurt." He remarked as he passed the binder to Tyrone and pointed to the song.

"That is evil." Was all Tyrone said and finally passed it to a very apprehensive Dave.

"You got to be kidding me!" Dave yelped a little too loudly when he saw the song title. His friends at the table giggled and shushed him.

"Well Dave? I've issued a challenge, are you going to take it?" asked Kurt.

"Yeah I'll do it. But you'll have to pay for dinner on our date." Dave said looking pale but determined. The girls squealed and patted his back. "Knock'em dead Dave!"

"You can do this! You da man Dave!" Tyrone declared, and the two friends bumped fists.

Dave heaved a big breath in and out and lurched up from the table with the binder. "Okay, here goes!"

Kurt watched him as he marched up towards the front to talk to the karaoke host. "Go Dave!" He shouted after him. He felt a hand on his arm and he looked over to Dave's friend Tyrone.

"This had better not be some kind of sick joke. If you are just doing this to humiliate Dave, I'll…"

"This is not what it's about," Kurt responded heatedly. "There was no other way to give him my number. He has to earn it."

"You really think highly of yourself, don't you." Tyrone spat looking disgusted.

"I came over here to give him my phone number and he refused it, not because he didn't want it but because he was afraid to take it. Now I could have given him my number anyways and I could have got his number from one of you, but it won't work because he doesn't believe that he deserves some time with me." Kurt sighed trying to make Tyrone understand. "If he gets through that song and he will get through that song, then we will start on an equal footing and we may have a good chance of actually being friends."

They were interrupted by a little mic bleep. Dave was up on stage looking extremely nervous. "Hey there, I just wanted to say something before I start this song. I'm sort of nervous but this is really important to me because I have a date riding on this song." Dave was interrupted by hoots and whistles, from the patrons. He smiled and continued, "So I'm depending on everyone to support me so I can get through this song." More hoots and hollers ensued, mostly from the table his friends sat. "Okay Kurt, this is for you."

Soon the strains of the country guitar playing the familiar melody told the audience what the music choice was just as Dave started to sing. There was a ripple of giggles as they recognised the song. If he survived the first sentence, he'd be okay.

_Sometimes it's hard to be a woman  
Giving all your love to just one man_

Kurt watched Dave anxiously as he stumbled over the first two lines of 'Stand By Your Man', praying that everything would turn out alright. It was pretty obvious that Dave was a newbie to karaoke the way he had his eyes glued to the prompter. Luckily the song had a very slow tempo and Dave's slight hesitation at singing the words actually worked with the song. His voice was quite rich and deep and quite incongruous with the songs words. The audience laughed good naturedly and cheered to encourage him to continue.

_You'll have bad times  
And he'll have good times  
Doing things that you don't understand_

Dave sang the next few lines with a bit more confidence and actually glanced out at the audience. Susie and Jodie started to whistle and cheer enthusiastically. The rest of the table were all smiles and Rachael gave a Dave thumbs up sign.

_But if you love him you'll forgive him  
Even though he's hard to understand  
And if you love him  
Oh be proud of him  
'Cause after all he's just a man_

By the end of the second verse Dave was more comfortable. He started singing with real feeling, pouring out all the hurt and the angst just like a real country singer. The audience obviously loved it, swaying with the music and whooping encouragement occasionally. The music swelled for chorus and Dave took a big breath to belt out the lyrics.

_Stand by your man  
Give him two arms to cling to  
And something warm to come to  
When nights are cold and lonely_

The crowd went wild as Dave really dug deep and sung his heart out. He was clearly enjoying himself and even added a bit of Elvis vibrato to the remaining lyrics.

_Stand by your man  
And tell the world you love him  
Keep giving all the love you can  
Stand by your man_

"Now everybody!" he shouted into the mic.

The audience sang with him as he repeated the last verse. Everyone exaggerated the angst in the song as they came to the big finish.

_Stand by your man  
And show the world you love him  
Keep giving all the love you can  
Stand by your man_

Everyone cheered and applauded as Dave bowed and nodded, obviously relieved and pleased with himself. "Well Kurt?" He said into the mic.

"Kurt! Where's Kurt? Com'on Kurt!" People started to yell, looking around.

The group of friends at the table were looking for Kurt too but he was no longer sitting on his chair.

Kurt had stopped by the hostess's stand and borrowed a marker and then started walking through the tables towards a waiting, smiling Dave. When he got there, he took hold of Dave's arm and pushed up the man's sleeve to reveal his shapely forearm. Then with deliberate strokes he wrote his number along Dave's arm. He then passed the marker to Dave and rolled up his own sleeve. Dave followed suit and wrote his phone number on Kurt's arm.

Somewhere in the audience someone started clinking cutlery against a glass and soon everyone was doing it. Dave glanced at Kurt with a look that asked 'shall we?' Kurt smiled at Dave and moved closer lifting his chin and his sparkling eyes answered with 'of course!' Dave moved in and lightly kissed Kurt on his lips. Kurt wrapped his arms around Dave's neck and pulled him in for a more passionate kiss, much to everyone's delight.

Later that evening, Dave and Kurt sat together by the bar chatting, a short distance away from their friends' table. Dave looked again at his arm that had Kurt's number scrawled on it. "Kurt, I had my phone with me you know, you could have just asked for it and keyed in your number."

Kurt smiled and ran a finger along the numbers and chuckled when Dave gasped with pleasure. "I could have but I wanted you to know how serious I am about being your friend."

"Did you have to use an indelible ink marker?"

"I didn't want it to fade away before you had it memorized." Kurt answered with a smile. He then added more seriously, "Dave, I really want to get to know you and become friends, whether or not the dating thing works out. I want you to know that you can count on me for support like a real friend."

"Shouldn't you have been the one to sing "Stand By Your Man instead of me?" Dave asked in a half serious way.

"I admit, I may have had some unresolved emotions concerning our high school life when I picked that song. But they were all blown away by your singing! As your friend Tyrone said, you must have huge gonads to get up in front of all those people and sing a woman's song. You certainly are good sport."

"Well I don't know about being a good sport. I wanted the chance at a hot date with a hot guy. I would have done almost anything."

"Now you tell me! Well I'm glad now that I picked that song. It is sort of fitting; in fact, I think I might just pick it as the ring tone for your number." Kurt stated bringing out his phone.

"Hah! You're too late Hummel! I've already googled it, downloaded it and assigned it to your number." Dave boasted, insufferably pleased with himself.

Kurt laughed, "Oh God I've created a monster. Watch out Tammy Wynette!"

"Hey Dave, we're heading out. Are you coming?" Tyrone asked. Susie and Jodie stood beside him ready to go.

Dave smiled at Kurt, "we have early classes tomorrow, so I had better go." He got off his bar stool and stood looking at Kurt for a moment. "So how about going on that date you owe me this Saturday?"

"Sounds like a plan, where are we going? I believe I'm paying for dinner."

Dave smirked, "I think we'll be coming back here. I want to have a look at that binder and find a few choice songs for you to sing!"

Kurt laughed, "Bring it, Karofsky!" He then stepped of the bar stool and gave Dave a very memorable kiss goodnight. After Dave left, he went back to his friends' table humming the song that Dave covered so well.

**A/N A little while ago I was in a Karaoke bar and a guy just got up an sang 'Stand By Your Man' with no explanation. He had a deep baritone and it sounded odd yet funny to sing a woman's hurtin' song. I immediately thought that it would be cute if I somehow got Dave to sing for Kurt and this story is what I ended up with.**


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